Interpreting Bolivia's Political Transformation: A New Report from The Democracy Center

Dear Readers:

Today we have two important announcements from The Democracy Center.

Our first is that today The Democracy Center is releasing a major new report on the state of Bolivian politics: Interpreting Bolivia’s Political Transformation. The Democracy Center wrote the paper as a response to a new report on Bolivia published by the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations, that one titled, Bolivia on the Brink.

For those readers interested in current events in Bolivia, the two reports, from The Democracy Center and the Council, are good tools for understanding the transformation under way today in Bolivia. They also shed light on the important debate underway in Washington over how the U.S. should deal with a changing Bolivia.

The Council on Foreign Relations and The Democracy Center have agreed to post links to each other’s papers on our respective Web sites. To read a short summary of The Democracy Center report, and for links to both papers, visit here.

Below is a brief summary of our new report. Over the next two weeks, during which I will be traveling abroad again for work, we will excerpt major sections of Interpreting Bolivia’s Political Transformation. Those excerpts will include analyses on issues ranging from gas nationalization to coca to trade, as well as the current state of the Morales administration. We know that each of these issues is of interest to Blog readers, from all perspectives, and we invite and expect an interesting debate by our commenters.

Our second announcement is that after months of design work by our team in Bolivia and the U.S. we are proud to unveil our brand new Web site. Simpler to use, yet more comprehensive than our previous site, you will find everything from a library of free advocacy resources to multimedia presentations on Bolivia. You will also find constantly updated links to the latest versions of our newsletter and this popular Blog from Bolivia, now read by 2,500 to 3,000 people daily. Have a look at the new site this week!

Visit our new Web site here.

Thank you to all our readers,

Jim Shultz

Interpreting Bolivia's Political Transformation: Key Points

** The report sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations includes some valuable analysis and recommendations for U.S. policy makers, particularly with regard to the need for new flexibility on the issues of coca and trade. Unfortunately, it also includes some significant misrepresentations and bases its analysis, at times, on unsubstantiated generalizations.

** The report wisely encourages U.S. policy makers to positively engage the Bolivian government, despite differences between the Morales and Bush administrations. It is important to note, however, that its suggestions for doing so are aimed primarily at advancing what it calls "U.S. interests in Bolivia and the Andean Rim," not Bolivia's national interests.

** While Bolivia does continue to face significant social tensions and political conflict, the country is not "on the brink" of the kind of national crisis projected by the report. In fact, Bolivia today is generally more politically and economically stable than it has been under most of its recent governments.

** While the administration of President Evo Morales does struggle with assembling a competent and effective government, an assessment of that challenge requires a far deeper analysis than the one offered in Bolivia on the Brink.

** On a range of key issues, from the "nationalization" of gas to constitutional reform, the Bolivian government's actions are actually a good deal less extreme than they are portrayed in the report.

** Bolivia on the Brink calls on U.S. policy makers to "convince" Bolivia's neighbors to assume a role in helping resolve Bolivia's domestic political divisions, despite the fact that such foreign involvement has not been invited and would present a clear conflict of interests.